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Business Spotlight: How One Company Is Helping Decontaminate Calgary Post Covid-19

Published

5 years ago

13 minute read

 

There will be a stage of this crisis that begins to get the majority of our community back to work. In the meantime, we want to help out in the community, stay hopeful and make ourselves aware of new developments every single day. Now is a time where we can take a step back and realise that Calgarians are in this together, and we have been showing it through kind messages to each other, through texts, videos, social media and the actions we can take. 

 

Through the eyes of a business owner, what can you do to ensure the health and safety of your staff? Or unsure how to take action and get supplies into the hands of those who need it most? Read how one Calgary company, ProStar Cleaning and Restoration, is stepping up to the plate to support our community.

 

The local Calgary business was started in 2002 by founder Jodi Scarlett, who had just graduated from the University of Calgary in the MBA program and also received a Bachelors of Commerce. She is an active member of the Women Presidents Organization and Alberta Women Entrepreneurs. She holds 3 Master Restorer designations with The Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Also being a certified instructor for the Alberta Insurance Council, continues to offer seminars relating to water damage restoration and mold remediation. A truly inspiring entrepreneur that has a true passion for supporting the community. She has been an avid supporter of the knowledge and research done into countering the contamination of Covid-19 and has worked to ensure her staff are fully trained on the potential harm and the skills required to lower the risk of any contamination.

 

From humble beginnings, the story begins by painting the picture of a small cleaning company, rickety chairs, no filing system, a team of several maids and no computer in sight. It may not be the prettiest picture, however when Jodi bought the business back in the early 2000’s, providing the highest quality cleaning service has continued to be the heart of ProStar Cleaning and Restoration today. 

 

Now in 2020, the business has built up their skills and capabilities to offer a wide range of cleaning and restoration services. Traditionally their focus is on services for their customers so they can recover from unexpected events. Whether that be fire, wind, water or sewage damage, household or commercial cleaning, construction cleanup and mold or biohazard abatement, they can handle it all. This speaks lengths into how they have listened to their customers needs over the past 18 years. 

 

Their fight against Covid-19

How we can integrate back into the workplace and social gatherings with lowering the risk of a second uprise in contamination through peers? Now that we have found ourselves in a state of emergency with a global virus pandemic in our community, Jodi and her team at ProStar Cleaning and Restoration have found themselves going back to their roots, cleaning. 

 

Jodi and select members of her team spent a lot of time researching the novel Covid-19 virus. From their efforts they have created FAQ’s that relate to concerns about how they are taking measures to address the challenges involved. Having their staff trained on cleaning various disasters that came before the wake of the virus, their team was skilled to address the conditions required to disinfect any areas at risk of already being contaminated. Jodi mentions:

 

“We gathered all the information and wrote safety practices, we trained the team within 24 hours…they were ready, it didn’t take us very long because we were uniquely poised for this kind of work”

 

Field staff were trained on bloodborne pathogens and in house “clean and apply” methods. They can service any single facility up to 100,000 square feet and includes the application of approved disinfectant chemicals by professionals on their field staff. Staff are taking the necessary precautions to ensure they can deliver a successful decontamination of social housing, homes and businesses across Calgary and surrounding areas. You can learn more about their FAQ’s on their Facebook page where they are avidly responding to any queries or comments. 

The team at ProStar Cleaning and Restoration want to reiterate that with the conversations they are having regarding Covid-19 and their methodology, is that they will first screen the details of the risk involved. These efforts are more so focused on staying transparent to not sell a service to someone who simply does not need it. It is key to note whether there has been a high chance that someone or groups have been in contact with the area and whether there has been a history of testing positive for the virus. 

 

How are the management lowering the risk for their employees in office and in field staff?

 

As mentioned previously, the staff have been trained on safety practices and the potential ways the virus can attach itself to surfaces. From their usual hazard assessment policy that traditionally would be applied to their customer requests, they put those same skills to work on their own facility. To address specifically the health and welfare of all staff under Jodi’s leadership, she has implemented a few different ways to ensure the highest level of precaution is taken.

 

“every job site we go to is hazardous. So we do a hazard assessment and determine how to mitigate those hazards. So this COVID-19 is a new environmental factor for us”

 

The majority of her office staff have integrated a work from home environment during this time, assisting with customers’ questions and supporting the field staff. Within their 15,000 square foot facility, only three in-house staff continue to work at their location to ensure there is replenishment of gear ready for field staff. It is a priority for their facility employees to have zoned areas allowing for ample social distancing practices, key to ensuring that there is little to no crossover day to day from staff not working from home.

 

They built a decontamination stations at all entries and exits at their facility to have staff coming in and out to decontaminate themselves through handwashing stations, regular temperature readings to ensure they stay on top of any risk that may come into effect as conditions change and segmented their field staff into smaller groups to address specific job site conditions; to which also include decontamination stations. 

 

How has the communication been with your employees since the state of emergency was declared?

 

Jodi mentioned that she had arrived home from a personal trip just on the cusp of the declaration from the government, thus leading her to self isolate for 14 days and continues to work from home trusting the recommendations made by Alberta Health Services. The transition for the team has been greatly received moving to communicating using online conference calls and messaging apps like WhatsApp. Jodi has continued to create leadership videos and is a true believer in the use of humour to ensure there is a healthy work balance between her and her employees. 

 

How is ProStar Cleaning and Restoration helping the community during this time?

 

Jodi and her team have taken upon themselves spending time trying to educate the public and calm those concerns. It is important to remember that there is continuous research going into the ‘shelf life’ of the virus and ProStar Cleaning and Restoration will continue to inform the community through social media channels to ensure the most relevant information is reaching those concerned. ProStar’s team implemented a sustainable PPE(Personal Protective Equipment) initiative early on during this pandemic and are cognisant to not interrupt the supply chain channels for health care. They have adapted with the equipment they own to ensure they can reuse everything they possibly can, thus allowing essential PPE to be received by front line workers who need it most.

 

One initiative ProStar is happy to support is ConquerCovid19. It has gained a lot of attention for supporting our healthcare workers and women’s shelters at a time where there is a shortage of medical and personal supplies they deeply need replenishment of. This gained a major push from Olympian hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser and support from well known actor Ryan Reynolds. It has received support from companies across Canada such as Canadian Tire and Toys ‘R’ Us, ProStar is one of the Calgary companies that have offered to lend a hand.   

 

ProStar’s involvement will be boots on the ground and the use of their facility in Calgary where they will be hosting one of the first PPE supply drives at their location, details can be seen below. We commend ProStar for their support offered to the team at ConquerCovid19. Please visit their Facebook page to learn more about their work with ConquerCovid19 and how you can offer your own support for their PPE supply drive Saturday April 18th.

 

 

 

The team are happy to respond to questions through their contact information available on their website and through all their social media platforms. Working directly with the social housing sector on some large cleaning projects, providing maintenance services to ensure those who need these services have a safe and clean environment, with the additional support of assisted self isolation rooms. Working to support vulnerable individuals, they are proactively implementing preventative cleanings across their service areas. They also have been working with housing and apartment rentals such as Airbnb’s to have turnover cleaning to ensure the owners can safely offer a clean environment to stay. Jodi and her team are eager to witness the transition of our community back into their workplace and some normality for the future, and of course, are there for support.

 

If you have any questions and would like to learn more about ProStar Cleaning and Restoration and their work in the community, visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

 

 

For more stories, visit Todayville Calgary

 

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Automotive

Federal government should swiftly axe foolish EV mandate

Published on July 9, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Kenneth P. Green

Two recent events exemplify the fundamental irrationality that is Canada’s electric vehicle (EV) policy.

First, the Carney government re-committed to Justin Trudeau’s EV transition mandate that by 2035 all (that’s 100 per cent) of new car sales in Canada consist of “zero emission vehicles” including battery EVs, plug-in hybrid EVs and fuel-cell powered vehicles (which are virtually non-existent in today’s market). This policy has been a foolish idea since inception. The mass of car-buyers in Canada showed little desire to buy them in 2022, when the government announced the plan, and they still don’t want them.

Second, President Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill has slashed taxpayer subsidies for buying new and used EVs, ended federal support for EV charging stations, and limited the ability of states to use fuel standards to force EVs onto the sales lot. Of course, Canada should not craft policy to simply match U.S. policy, but in light of policy changes south of the border Canadian policymakers would be wise to give their own EV policies a rethink.

And in this case, a rethink—that is, scrapping Ottawa’s mandate—would only benefit most Canadians. Indeed, most Canadians disapprove of the mandate; most do not want to buy EVs; most can’t afford to buy EVs (which are more expensive than traditional internal combustion vehicles and more expensive to insure and repair); and if they do manage to swing the cost of an EV, most will likely find it difficult to find public charging stations.

Also, consider this. Globally, the mining sector likely lacks the ability to keep up with the supply of metals needed to produce EVs and satisfy government mandates like we have in Canada, potentially further driving up production costs and ultimately sticker prices.

Finally, if you’re worried about losing the climate and environmental benefits of an EV transition, you should, well, not worry that much. The benefits of vehicle electrification for climate/environmental risk reduction have been oversold. In some circumstances EVs can help reduce GHG emissions—in others, they can make them worse. It depends on the fuel used to generate electricity used to charge them. And EVs have environmental negatives of their own—their fancy tires cause a lot of fine particulate pollution, one of the more harmful types of air pollution that can affect our health. And when they burst into flames (which they do with disturbing regularity) they spew toxic metals and plastics into the air with abandon.

So, to sum up in point form. Prime Minister Carney’s government has re-upped its commitment to the Trudeau-era 2035 EV mandate even while Canadians have shown for years that most don’t want to buy them. EVs don’t provide meaningful environmental benefits. They represent the worst of public policy (picking winning or losing technologies in mass markets). They are unjust (tax-robbing people who can’t afford them to subsidize those who can). And taxpayer-funded “investments” in EVs and EV-battery technology will likely be wasted in light of the diminishing U.S. market for Canadian EV tech.

If ever there was a policy so justifiably axed on its failed merits, it’s Ottawa’s EV mandate. Hopefully, the pragmatists we’ve heard much about since Carney’s election victory will acknowledge EV reality.

Kenneth P. Green

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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Business

Prime minister can make good on campaign promise by reforming Canada Health Act

Published on July 8, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

While running for the job of leading the country, Prime Minister Carney promised to defend the Canada Health Act (CHA) and build a health-care system Canadians can be proud of. Unfortunately, to have any hope of accomplishing the latter promise, he must break the former and reform the CHA.

As long as Ottawa upholds and maintains the CHA in its current form, Canadians will not have a timely, accessible and high-quality universal health-care system they can be proud of.

Consider for a moment the remarkably poor state of health care in Canada today. According to international comparisons of universal health-care systems, Canadians endure some of the lowest access to physicians, medical technologies and hospital beds in the developed world, and wait in queues for health care that routinely rank among the longest in the developed world. This is all happening despite Canadians paying for one of the developed world’s most expensive universal-access health-care systems.

None of this is new. Canada’s poor ranking in the availability of services—despite high spending—reaches back at least two decades. And wait times for health care have nearly tripled since the early 1990s. Back then, in 1993, Canadians could expect to wait 9.3 weeks for medical treatment after GP referral compared to 30 weeks in 2024.

But fortunately, we can find the solutions to our health-care woes in other countries such as Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Australia, which all provide more timely access to quality universal care. Every one of these countries requires patient cost-sharing for physician and hospital services, and allows private competition in the delivery of universally accessible services with money following patients to hospitals and surgical clinics. And all these countries allow private purchases of health care, as this reduces the burden on the publicly-funded system and creates a valuable pressure valve for it.

And this brings us back to the CHA, which contains the federal government’s requirements for provincial policymaking. To receive their full federal cash transfers for health care from Ottawa (totalling nearly $55 billion in 2025/26) provinces must abide by CHA rules and regulations.

And therein lies the rub—the CHA expressly disallows requiring patients to share the cost of treatment while the CHA’s often vaguely defined terms and conditions have been used by federal governments to discourage a larger role for the private sector in the delivery of health-care services.

Clearly, it’s time for Ottawa’s approach to reflect a more contemporary understanding of how to structure a truly world-class universal health-care system.

Prime Minister Carney can begin by learning from the federal government’s own welfare reforms in the 1990s, which reduced federal transfers and allowed provinces more flexibility with policymaking. The resulting period of provincial policy innovation reduced welfare dependency and government spending on social assistance (i.e. savings for taxpayers). When Ottawa stepped back and allowed the provinces to vary policy to their unique circumstances, Canadians got improved outcomes for fewer dollars.

We need that same approach for health care today, and it begins with the federal government reforming the CHA to expressly allow provinces the ability to explore alternate policy approaches, while maintaining the foundational principles of universality.

Next, the Carney government should either hold cash transfers for health care constant (in nominal terms), reduce them or eliminate them entirely with a concordant reduction in federal taxes. By reducing (or eliminating) the pool of cash tied to the strings of the CHA, provinces would have greater freedom to pursue reform policies they consider to be in the best interests of their residents without federal intervention.

After more than four decades of effectively mandating failing health policy, it’s high time to remove ambiguity and minimize uncertainty—and the potential for politically motivated interpretations—in the CHA. If Prime Minister Carney wants Canadians to finally have a world-class health-care system then can be proud of, he should allow the provinces to choose their own set of universal health-care policies. The first step is to fix, rather than defend, the 40-year-old legislation holding the provinces back.

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